Mālama Mokupuni–Caring for Our Island Environment: A Walk through a Home Food Forest
By Rachel Laderman Stepping onto the narrow path of a food forest, the first thing you notice is the cool, quiet peacefulness. In the dappled shade, you see a variety of leaf forms, textures, and colors—dancing oval katuk (sweet leaf…
Ahupua’a: Living Aloha
By Jan Wizinowich Beyond canoe plants and animals, the first voyagers to these shores brought the spirit of ahupuaʽa, a sense that they were of the land. On the most basic physical level, the ahupuaʽa is a dedicated land division…
Mālama Mokupuni–Caring for Our Island Environment: The Break Down on Microplastics
By Julia Meurice From the stomachs of sea birds to the muscle tissues of fish and the beaches across Hawai‘i, tiny plastics are quickly building up in our marine environment. They may seem harmless enough, but both scientific data and…
Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers: Cultivating Successful Farmers to Feed Our Island
By Fern Gavelek Growing fruit in Hawai‘i to feed our island is one thing. Growing farmers to do it successfully is another. The Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG) does both. The statewide nonprofit was founded in 1989 and boasts more…
Tropical Edibles: Dreaming of an Island Eden
By Lara Hughes The Dream On the mauka (mountain) side of the Māmalahoa Highway on the slopes where Hualālai and Maunaloa meet overlooking Kealakekua Bay, you can find a garden vision brought to fruition. Hailing from different places around the…
The Compost King of Hilo UrbFarm
By Brittany P. Anderson As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and this couldn’t be more true for Michael Pierron, founder of Hilo UrbFarm, as he spins organic waste into garden gold. The Hilo UrbFarm, founded…
Ka‘ū Coffee Festival: Celebrating a Crop that Brought Hope and Success
By Fern Gavelek Ten years ago, a group of folks were sitting on the lānai (porch) gazing out at healthy rows of Ka‘ū coffee trees laden with cherries. Beaming with pride and optimistic for the future, the neighboring Ka‘ū coffee…
Mālama Moana: Take Care of the Ocean that Takes Care of You
By Rachel Laderman Sometimes through ignorance, we smother our beaches, reefs, and wildlife with so much affection and attention that they are left gasping to recover. At Kahalu‘u Bay in Kailua-Kona, the community saw this happening. Beautiful Kahalu‘u Bay was…
Hāmākua Harvest: Bridging Community and Agriculture
By Britni Schock Hāmākua Harvest’s mission is to promote and advance Hāmākua agriculture by supporting local farmers, enriching the region’s social fabric, and promoting healthy rural lifestyles for the benefit of Hāmākua’s communities, economy, and environment. Located just off Māmalahoa…
LEED-Certified: Pālamanui Offers 21st-Century Learning
By Fern Gavelek Imagine going to college in a learning laboratory where sustainable building and design has earned the highest award in the green building industry. Residents of West Hawai‘i can do just that at Hawai‘i Community College, Pālamanui and…
Wai Watchers: The Vital Role of Volunteers in Watershed Health
Mālama Mokupuni: Caring for Our Island Environment By Julia Meurice This is a story of how communities are uniting and strengthening to protect the quality of our water from the mountains to the coast, of people rebuilding relationships with life…
Sea Love with Don Elwing
By Britni Schock Driving up mauka (mountain-side) of the Ocean View community, you see an endless sky, a terrain of ‘ōhi‘a lehua trees, and lava rock. After a few miles you arrive at the home of Don Elwing (Uncle D),…
huiMAU: Cultivating Healthy ‘Āina and Strong ‘Ohana
By Karen Rose “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina i ka pono” is typically translated as “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” However, according to No‘eau Peralto of huiMAU, a more appropriate translation is, “The sovereignty of…
Hanauna Ola: Sustaining the Generations through Voyaging
By Jan Wizinowich For centuries, the spirit of the voyaging canoe lay dormant only to be reawakened with a question: Is it possible to sail a voyaging canoe to Tahiti using non-instrument navigation? Now, many years later on Hawaiʽi Island,…
Mālama Mokupuni: Caring for Our Island Environment
Coral Reefs Are Dying: Climate Change and Sunscreen Pollution By Rachel Laderman Hānau ka ‘Uku-ko‘ako‘a, hānau kana, he ‘Ako‘ako‘a, puka Born was the coral polyp, born was the coral, came forth In the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, ko‘a (the…
Hawai‘i Island Tea – Craft Brew
By Brittany P. Anderson The quest for Hawai‘i Island grown tea starts with the perfect storm of volcanic acidic soil and humidity. Those bold enough to take the journey tend to their plants with patience and a kind hand. The…
A Hospital for the Birds: Hawai‘i Wildlife Center
By Catherine Tarleton Things are hopping at Hawai‘i Wildlife Center in North Kohala—hopping, chirping, swimming, feeding, fledging, healing, and eventually flying. “Last night, we transported in a seabird from O‘ahu and a pueo (owl) from Kaua‘i,” said President and Center…
Lake Waiau
By Karen Valentine Like a deep and mysterious woman, she lies nestled in her bed of ancient lava within the majestic pinnacle of the sacred mountain Maunakea. One of the few tropical alpine lakes in the world, Lake Waiau has…
Sustainable Living and Learning at Hawaiian Sanctuary
By Brittany P. Anderson Along the densely forested stretch of Pahoa–Kalapana Road, towering albizia reach into the sky. In their lacey shade sits the Hawaiian Sanctuary, a 44-acre haven tucked away from the busy thoroughfare. There is no large gate…
Island Stowaways: Invasive Pests on Hawai’i Island
By Brittany P. Anderson Born from fire, Hawai‘i Island sprang from the bottom of the ocean. Cooling lava breached the surface of the sea, and our island was born. Plants and animals traveled thousands of miles to reach the new…
Kohanaiki: Connecting the Past to the Future
By Jan Wizinowich Tutu Papa moves quietly in the dark of his Kohanaiki mauka hale (mountain-side home) in final preparations for a makai (ocean-side) gathering journey, collecting the supplies he will need for the day and a lunch of dried…
Kohala’s Hawai‘i Institute of Pacific Agriculture: Growing an Interest in Food Farming
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu At the UH Hilo Commencement Ceremonies held in May 2017, the numbers of graduates in various fields were impressive. However, a disturbing trend surfaced, with only 18 graduates completing a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and fewer…
Kohala Watershed Partnership: Bringing Life Back to the Land
By Jan Wizinowich Kohala Mountain stands like a cloud-cloaked monarch, crowned with a 50,000 acre forest that feeds the streams and people of Kohala. The tradewinds bring warm water into the cool mountains and create a constant source of moisture…
The Summertime Table
Smashed Potatoes with Swiss Chard Chimichurri By Brittany P. Anderson With her hands full of fiery red, bubble gum pink, and blazing yellow Swiss chard, Maria Shirley smiles revealing deep dimples in each of her cheeks. It is no small…
Resilience is the New Sustainability
By Michael Kramer It’s been 30 years since the United Nations Bruntland Commission put sustainability on the global map of consciousness. Has it taken hold here in Hawai‘i? Ten years ago, Hawai‘i created the Hawai‘i 2050 Sustainability Plan, which involved…
Recycle Hawai’i: Promoting Reuse in a Big Way
By Paula Thomas Recycle Hawai‘i, a nonprofit organization based in Hilo, has a stated goal to increase resource awareness and to encourage recycling and sustainable practices in our community. Its mission? To promote resource awareness and recycling enterprises in Hawai‘i.…
Composting At Home: Treasure in the Trash
By Barbara Fahs One autumn day in 1971, a young woman was busily building a compost pile alongside her new home. Two little girls, eight and nine, wandered by and asked what she was doing. “Well, I’m making a place…
Pono Practices at Honoka‘a’s Green Market and Café
By Barbara Fahs Imagine a restaurant that generates virtually no waste. Also imagine, a menu chock-full of fresher-than-fresh, organic, in season, locally produced ingredients. Wait, there’s more! Under the same roof is a small natural foods store, the only one…
Growing Sustainability: How Some Puna Residents are Becoming Self-Sufficient as Lava Approaches their Community
By Denise Laitinen Sustainability is a buzzword bandied about by a lot of people these days. Residents in two lower Puna communities believe the region, which is facing new realities as it is impacted by the lava flow, can serve…
Puakea Ranch: Sustaining the Land, and the Story
By Catherine Tarleton The high green hills of North Kohala have evolved over generations, from forests and farms to blankets of sugar cane and rolling ranch country. As do most places here, Puakea Ranch has a story to tell in…
